Democrats have a double-digit advantage over Republicans in the North Carolina Senate race between former Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and former Republican National Committee Chair (RNC) Michael Whatley, a survey commissioned by Nexus Strategies for Healthier United found.
The survey asked respondents, “Looking forward to the November election for United States Senator. If the election were held today, would you vote for Roy Cooper, a Democrat, Michael Whatley, a Republican, or Shannon Bray, a Libertarian?”
Across the board, 50 percent chose Democrat Cooper, leaving Whatley nearly 18 points behind with 32.3 percent support. Bray only sees single digit support with four percent support, and 13.8 percent remain undecided.
A majority of Republicans, 71.3 percent, side with Whatley and most Democrats, 87.5 percent, side with Cooper. Unaffiliated voters give the Democrat candidate the advantage. Nearly half of unaffiliated voters, 48.8 percent, choose Cooper, followed by 25.5 percent who support Whatley and 5.1 percent who choose Bray. Another 19.6 percent of unaffiliated voters are unsure of who they would support.
The results also coincide with the reality that most, 53.4 percent, view President Trump unfavorably, compared to 40 percent who view him favorably. Once again, unaffiliated voters in North Carolina appear to side with Democrats, as 57.3 percent view Trump as unfavorable, compared to 32.3 percent who have a favorable view.
The overall survey was taken March 8 and 9, 2026, among 800 registered voters in North Carolina.
This survey represents one of the widest gaps seen in the race, as the Carolina Journal noted:
That margin is considerably wider than two other recent surveys of the race. A Carolina Journal poll conducted March 22-23 put Cooper ahead 49 percent to 41 percent — an 8-point lead. A poll from Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-aligned firm, conducted March 13-14 found the race even tighter, with Cooper at 47 percent and Whatley at 44 percent, a difference within the poll’s margin of error.
Whatley, who said President Trump told him “I need you to run” for Senate, has continually reminded North Carolina voters on the campaign trail that Cooper ushered in wild leftist policies during his time in office, overseeing the release of violent criminals.
As Breitbart News reported:
In addition to pushing cashless bail, they also pushed pre-trial release, and Cooper himself appointed leftist judges who oversaw the release of violent criminals into U.S. cities. One such example is his 2018 appointment of Judge Roy Wiggins, the latter of whom oversaw the release of serial arrestee Decarlos Brown — the suspect accused of fatally stabbing Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a trail in August.
More specifically, Wiggins supervised the magistrate, Teresa Stokes, who released Brown, the latter of whom had already been arrested 14 times. As it stands, Wiggins still refuses to fire Stokes, despite mass calls to do so, including from all members of the North Carolina Republican delegation.
“The entire NC Republican delegation called for the removal of Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes for letting Iryna Zarutska’s murderer out on the streets. Her lenient interpretation of the pretrial release statutes calls into question her fitness for service,” Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) said.
Ultimately, Cooper, Whatley said, was “grandstanding on letting criminals out of jail.”
“He signed an executive order that let 3,500 prisoners out of jail in North Carolina — about 1/8 of the state’s prison population. Just released them,” he told Breitbart News Daily in October.
Whatley has also made it clear that he supports the “America First agenda.”
“President Trump, for the last, you know, ten years, has said that we need to have a strong economy, we need to have secure borders, and we need America to be respected around the world,” he said last year. “That’s exactly the agenda that I’m going to run for.”
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